I would like to introduce you to a new friend of mine - Tresna Cullen, both of us united in tragedy at the loss of our loved ones through medical negligence by doctors still practising in NSW.
Tresna suffered the ultimate heartbreak by losing her daughter Jessica after presenting to a hospital with pain and pre-eclampsia symptoms in her eighth month of pregnancy that wasn't discovered on time and wasn't treated appropriately.
Another victim of a nation's shame. Another victim of a decrepit, deceitful and inadequate health system who victimise patients who dare complain and protects those who are negligent in their duties to preserve and sustain life by practising medicine.
Not good enough Australia, these same idiots are still practising medicine possibly treating your loved ones and through this corrupt system are taught to hide their mistakes at the expense of life and YOUR TAXES to pay for their incompetence.
"Tresna and I have discussed our respective stories and I will be joining Tresna's push to get medical negligence laws changed in this country, so these so called professionals will no longer be allowed to maim and cause death because of their own incompetence."
To read Tresna's story and the shocking state of what's happening in NSW Public Hospitals
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/patients-hospital-horrors/story-e6freuy9-1225840396474
I urge all of you to PLEASE ADD YOUR SIGNATURE Tresna's petition which is linked below
http://www.petitionspot.com/profile/5116435/Tresna_Cullen/
"Don't let Australia's public hospitals become human Abattoirs. Make the butchers accountable for their negligence." Medical Negligence Petition coming soon......
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
HCCC, The Coroner, St Vincent's Hospital and the first Anniversary of Mato's death
Tuesday marks the first anniversary of my father's death at the hands of St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst. I have been keeping the details under wraps on this blog for legal reasons.
But what I will say is that our family watched firsthand my father die due to a number of errors on that night and I have been trying to have this matter investigated by the HCCC (Health Care Complaints Commission) and those who failed their duty of care to my father on that night made accountable.
After a year of trying to get answers from St Vincent's, the HCCC and the Coroner who by the way has advised me that they simply dont have enough resources, I have still not been given an answer as to why my father died on the 17th of August 2009.
It seems that in NSW there are simply not enough resources for the State Coroner to devote to those who's deaths are questionable, medical professionals are not made accountable for breaching a hospital's own procedures (the Hospital has admitted this) and the HCCC who believe that hastening a man's death by undergoing a procedure in a public hospital is not outside normal practicing procedures under anaesthetic to warrant disciplinary action.
The public health system in Australia is a disaster. For the aged and those that are terminally ill, pray to god you die before you put your faith in the public health system. I have received nothing but stumbling blocks in my quest to gain justice for my father.
It seems that medical professionals are exempt and untouchable for being held accountable for their errors, that in my father's case, cost him his life. Terminally ill or not, this was not a decent way for any human being's life to end.
In my own profession, if I cause serious errors, it may cost me my job. Yet if you are a Dr who performs a procedure without obtaining informed consent, breaching hospital procedures and not monitoring the patient who's life is in your hands, you are protected by the Government bodies who's job it is to improve people's lives and to ensure you receive the treatment YOUR TAXES PAY FOR.
Why do Australians cop this from those who we elect to act in our best interests? Why do we allow those who are considered to serve the community and who supposedly choose to undertake one of the more respected and honoured professions be allowed to be ensconsed in a layer of protection from prosecution from the legal system by the medical mafia in cohorts with the Government who wish to hide the shocking state of our public hospital system and their own incompetence, lack of funding and failure to provide a good public health system in a supposed first world country?
This is why I would support a private health system and a dismantling of the public health system, this would mean accountability, a high level of service and alot of buerocrats out of work.
The US have got it right, I wouldn't mind paying a $15 copay for a top class level of healthcare where the possiblity of litigation makes sure the i's are dotted and their t's are crossed.
But what I will say is that our family watched firsthand my father die due to a number of errors on that night and I have been trying to have this matter investigated by the HCCC (Health Care Complaints Commission) and those who failed their duty of care to my father on that night made accountable.
After a year of trying to get answers from St Vincent's, the HCCC and the Coroner who by the way has advised me that they simply dont have enough resources, I have still not been given an answer as to why my father died on the 17th of August 2009.
It seems that in NSW there are simply not enough resources for the State Coroner to devote to those who's deaths are questionable, medical professionals are not made accountable for breaching a hospital's own procedures (the Hospital has admitted this) and the HCCC who believe that hastening a man's death by undergoing a procedure in a public hospital is not outside normal practicing procedures under anaesthetic to warrant disciplinary action.
The public health system in Australia is a disaster. For the aged and those that are terminally ill, pray to god you die before you put your faith in the public health system. I have received nothing but stumbling blocks in my quest to gain justice for my father.
It seems that medical professionals are exempt and untouchable for being held accountable for their errors, that in my father's case, cost him his life. Terminally ill or not, this was not a decent way for any human being's life to end.
In my own profession, if I cause serious errors, it may cost me my job. Yet if you are a Dr who performs a procedure without obtaining informed consent, breaching hospital procedures and not monitoring the patient who's life is in your hands, you are protected by the Government bodies who's job it is to improve people's lives and to ensure you receive the treatment YOUR TAXES PAY FOR.
Why do Australians cop this from those who we elect to act in our best interests? Why do we allow those who are considered to serve the community and who supposedly choose to undertake one of the more respected and honoured professions be allowed to be ensconsed in a layer of protection from prosecution from the legal system by the medical mafia in cohorts with the Government who wish to hide the shocking state of our public hospital system and their own incompetence, lack of funding and failure to provide a good public health system in a supposed first world country?
This is why I would support a private health system and a dismantling of the public health system, this would mean accountability, a high level of service and alot of buerocrats out of work.
The US have got it right, I wouldn't mind paying a $15 copay for a top class level of healthcare where the possiblity of litigation makes sure the i's are dotted and their t's are crossed.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Not satisfied with the care your loved one is receiving in Palliative Care?
I have received a few emails with stories of unacceptable practices in palliative care facilities in Australia.
This includes: Not feeding patients who are too weak to feed themselves, leaving them in their own excrement as well as nurses not providing the care they should in these facilities.
For those that emailed me. I am very sorry to hear this, I have certainly witnessed this in at least one Palliative Care facility my father was in.
We won't change anything until our voices are heard. I encourage you wholeheartedly to contact the Palliative Care Association in your particular states and share your experiences with them also.
http://www.palliativecare.org.au/
This includes: Not feeding patients who are too weak to feed themselves, leaving them in their own excrement as well as nurses not providing the care they should in these facilities.
For those that emailed me. I am very sorry to hear this, I have certainly witnessed this in at least one Palliative Care facility my father was in.
We won't change anything until our voices are heard. I encourage you wholeheartedly to contact the Palliative Care Association in your particular states and share your experiences with them also.
http://www.palliativecare.org.au/
More ER's Examine How to Incorporate Palliative Care - USA
Article Date: 09 Aug 2010
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports on increased discussions about palliative care following a recent New Yorker piece by M.D.-journalist Atul Gawande and a new piece in Slate that examines end-of-life care and the emergency room.
"In Slate yesterday, Joanne Kenen reports on how palliative care plays out in the emergency room, where many of these patients with chronic, terminal diseases are frequent visitors. One of 500 ER patients dies there, and another 3% subsequently die in the hospital after being admitted. ... Emory University Hospital, the Bronx's Montefiore Medical Center and Chicago's Northwest Memorial Hospital are all 'exploring the intersection' between the two fields, integrating palliative care physicians and nurses into the treatment team, when necessary. The emergency room, she writes, 'is one place to start' to change the very 'culture of care' in the U.S., 'doing a better job of caring for patients with slowly worsening chronic disease'" (Hobson, 8/5).
This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.
© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports on increased discussions about palliative care following a recent New Yorker piece by M.D.-journalist Atul Gawande and a new piece in Slate that examines end-of-life care and the emergency room.
"In Slate yesterday, Joanne Kenen reports on how palliative care plays out in the emergency room, where many of these patients with chronic, terminal diseases are frequent visitors. One of 500 ER patients dies there, and another 3% subsequently die in the hospital after being admitted. ... Emory University Hospital, the Bronx's Montefiore Medical Center and Chicago's Northwest Memorial Hospital are all 'exploring the intersection' between the two fields, integrating palliative care physicians and nurses into the treatment team, when necessary. The emergency room, she writes, 'is one place to start' to change the very 'culture of care' in the U.S., 'doing a better job of caring for patients with slowly worsening chronic disease'" (Hobson, 8/5).
This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.
© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The prodigal palliative care blogger returns!
Yep it's been a long time. I had to take time off to work through my experiences with my father and to commit myself half heartedly to this blog just wasn't fair, but now its time to put my heart and soul back into this blog who's topic remains close to my heart.......
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